St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1887-12-04
THE new PUBLIC BUILDING
An Erroneous Idea That the Commits
sion Is Contemplating too Small
a Structure.
What We Want Is a Building That Will
Meet the Growth of Ten
Years.
Crowded Condition of the Present Of
fices---Views Of the Officers as
to Space Required.

1.-THE architect who cannot realize tn e
wants of county like Hennepin and
city like Minneapolis, and govern him.
self accordingly, is not capable of fur
nishing the plans for the new publ ic
building" observed Titus Mareck,
member of the court house and city hall
commission. This was drawn out as an
answer to the suggestion tn at an idea
seems prevalent that the commission is
considering building too small and al
together inadequate to the purpose.
Where this originated is ifficult to say,
but the idea is general. The several Of
ficers at the court house. some of whom
may live to see the building completed,
seem particularly worried by the fear
that the commissions views are too mar
row to meet the case and the papers
from time to time contained short inter-
views on the subject. 1t would appear,
however, that their fears are ground
less. Members of the commission say
they have given no intimatiOn of their
ideas of the size of the proposed build
ing and have certainly reached no Of
fetal conclusions. In the instructions to
architects who will compete for the
plans, no mention of dimensions was
made, that being left entirely to the
judgment of the designers. They were
told of the population of the city and
county, and given an idea OF the
volume OF business, as data upon
which to base their plans. The current
story that the commission favored a
three-Story building, is untrue and alb
surd.
Il am afraid the fact that competition
| is thrown open to the world has created
some feeling among local architects.
which accounts for these stOries," said
another member of the commission.
1t is entirely proper to say, however,
| that the commissioners will make a
grave mistake if they should not give
| due consideration to the coming wants
of the city and county. Any building
| that would now be adequate would be a
| large one, but it would be utterly UNI
| fitted for the needs in five years time,
| ii the growth of the city should
be prOpOrtiOnate. The present
court house is a farce, as far
| as accommodation is concerned.
| for there is not an Office in which bust
ness is not hampered for the want of
room. The records are piling up with
frightful rapidity and there is no prob
| ability of decrease. There are now four
| Judges on the bench, and next year the
/ necessity for fifth will find expresSi on
| in the proper legal enactment. The city
| is no less cramped, and the NOah's ark
known as the city hall is ridiculOuSly
untitled for its purpose. The commits
sion must erect building that will not
only meet the present wants, but pro-
vide against necessities for years to
come. One of the district judges, in
talking of this matter. said:
cho1,ld &c
plans and then enlarge One-fifth. By
that means it may get suitable build
ing"
Another Judge, for reply, asked how
many curt rooms the Chicago building
| has. and was told il had fourteen judges
! quarters. ''OurS should be Just as
| large" was the response. 1t is the
opinion of attorneys that the new court
house should contain one large court
| room, capable of accommodating the
bar, and the other rooms should be
small. There is no necessity of prOvid-
! ing seating room for 800 or 400 spec
tators in every court room. Alum
| dant space must be provided for storing
| the county records in convenient shape.
| where they may be easy of access. For
the auditor and register of deeds at
| least $4,000 square feet of space is ne ceS-
| Sary. Auditor COndit is making about
| 200 books of record each year, besides
storing away, annually, 10000 tax re-
ceiptS and 5000 county vouchers. He
| has now fifty books of platS, 2Sx36
inches, and all of his records must be
| stored where they can be easily gotten
at, as they are referred to. every day.
! He has now forty feet of counters and
requires more. Register Peterson has
now about $50 books of rec OrdS, and is
adding to them at the rate of 100 year.
! For ten months of this year he has made
81 books, as follows: SO deeds, 81 mort
| cages, 8 miscellaneous, liens and l
power of attorney. His valuable rec
ordS must be provided for, in good
shape, at any cost.
Ell Davenport, clerk of the court,
seems to have secured some inside in
formation. He said:
| think the court house commission is
making a mistake i'll not having more
than eight court rooms in the new court
| house. At the present increase in bust
ness we will need the whole eight rooms
when the building is ready for Occu-
| pancy, and we will then be as badly
cramped for room as we are at present.
| During the past year there have been
| 5000 civil cases and over 1000 criminal
cases, and during the months of August,
September and October there were
1900 judgments docketed. When l
commenced my term of Office seven
years ago l only needed one deputy.
while at the present time have seven
deputies and two cOpyists, and with this
large force am barely able to handle
the business of this Office. The court
house commission is composed of good
men, but they seem to have forgotten
that they are building court house for
| growing city.
John L. Sullivan, the pugilist, has
been presented with an umbrella valued
at 81. loo. 1t cannot stand as many hard